Joe Biden orders block on asylum-seekers at Mexico border

Joe Biden will shut the US-Mexico border to asylum-seekers whenever illegal crossings surge, as the White House takes the fight to Donald Trump.

US President Joe Biden announces the crackdown on illegal migrants. Picture: AFP

President Joe Biden will temporarily shut the US-Mexico border to asylum-seekers whenever illegal migrant crossings surge, the White House has said, in a dramatic bid to neutralise one of his political weak spots in the re-election battle against Donald Trump.

The 81-year-old Democrat has signed an executive order that will ban migrants who enter illegally from getting asylum when numbers top 2500 in a day, as well as making it easier to deport them back to Mexico.

“To Joe Biden, the safety of American families should always come first,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Officials said the tough new curbs should take effect immediately as the numbers of people crossing without proper documentation were already above the threshold. Asylum-seekers would again be allowed to enter once the daily numbers dropped to 1500.

The move sees Mr Biden moving closer to Mr Trump’s own signature border policies, amid polls showing the issue heavily dragging on the President’s re-election chances in November.

Mr Trump condemned his rival’s move, saying Mr Biden “surrendered” the border to illegal immigration.

“Millions of people have poured into our country – and now, after nearly four years of his failed, weak leadership, pathetic leadership, crooked Joe Biden is pretending to finally do something about the border,” Mr Trump, 77, said.

He added the border restrictions were all for “show” ahead of their presidential debate later this month.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, quickly labelled the move as “window dressing”.

Mr Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, repeated his frequent claims that illegal migrants are responsible for surges in violent crime – an allegation not supported by any major police or academic data.

Migrants entering the United States are normally allowed to claim asylum if they face harm or persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group.

But many spend years waiting for their claims to be processed, with critics saying that people often cross purely for economic reasons and then game the system to remain in the US.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden was dealing with an immigration system that had been “broken for decades”.

She accused Republicans in congress of “partisan politics” by failing to co-operate with Mr Biden, and for blocking billions of dollars in funding for the border.

Under Mr Biden, border crossings have surged to record levels, rising to a monthly peak of about 300,000 – 10,000 a day – in December.

Most are from Central America and Venezuela as they flee poverty, violence and natural disasters, but growing numbers are also coming from other parts of the world to Latin America before making the trip north to the US.

The numbers have fallen considerably in recent months, to 179,000 in April, but polls show it is still one of Mr Biden’s biggest electoral liabilities.

Mr Biden’s plan will anger Democrats on the left of the party and will almost certainly be challenged in court by civil rights groups.

A second senior White House official moved to defuse criticisms that Mr Biden was effectively copying Mr Trump, saying that while in office the Republican “demonised immigrants, instituted mass raids, separated families at the border and put kids in cages. Their policies went against our values as a nation.”

Mr Trump spent his time in office trying to build a wall on the Mexican border and has drastically ramped up his anti-immigration rhetoric as he seeks a White House comeback.

AFP